


binary star

by orphan_account



Series: space au [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 01:32:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14485890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There is no issue now, but Yuta has not lived for twenty nine years by blindly ignoring what could become issues. Taeil doesn’t think this is a big deal, and it’s maybe not. Yuta has never learned how to leave well enough alone, though.





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**Author's Note:**

> I haven't finished writing this one...but I'm close to the end of the semester so I just went ahead and decided I should post the first chapter. 
> 
> Also I hate me because actually it's so hard to keep this universe straight.

Yuta is five when he learned where he lived.

“Vespasia,” his mother whispered, gestured to the expansive city around them.

Sure, he had been there for the previous five years as well, but when he thinks back, that was the first time he _realized_.

Vespasia then had been loud and colorful, neon shining day and night, space ships and cars and people chattering never-ending. As a child, with his mother and father, it had been a wonderful place to live. Their room on the 220th floor of one of the housing blocks was nicer than the others. They had spent years making it a home before they had even thought about having Yuta. They were smack in the middle of the biggest city, Elor, and they were happy.

Yuta is fifteen when he loses all of that.

Vespasia is everything except kind. First, his father succumbs to the draw of space. His mother cries for days on end, cannot wrap her head around why someone would so badly want to leave the planet. Later, Yuta learns his father had fled his gambling debts, however absurd that sounds.

His mother gets sick. They are no longer on the 220th floor of the housing block in downtown Elor. They are in the shelter for homeless families. Yuta is fourteen when he starts working in the garage. There, he services every kind of vehicle and spaceship one can imagine. His mother can’t scrap enough money together to afford anything on Vespasia. Yuta is only able to clean the grease and dirt and sweat off his jumpsuit every other week, only able to waste money he usually uses for food like that when he has saved up for it. The washing machines at the shelter aren’t free, no matter how cruel it seems.

He’s fifteen when his mother’s pneumonia finally takes her from him. It seems so trivial. On an advanced planet like Vespasia, one of the Core five, one of the creators of the Core Operating and Connection Service, one of the most advanced planets in the universe, and he lost his mother to pneumonia. Vespasia has multiple layers. He started on the 220th layer, up in the clouds. The walkways and stores and people up there had been so amazing. When he looks up sometimes, he thinks he can see that level. The ground level is dirty and muddy, and he grows to hate it.

He works at various mechanic shops for six years.

The goal he is working towards is getting off the planet. It’s funny, in a dark way, that he will be just like his father in this aspect. He hates Vespasia. The only thing he can long for is the openness of space, the emptiness. The sound is too loud on the ground level. The air too humid and hot, the buildings crowded. There is no room for Yuta to move. He wants to be somewhere he can be someone.

When he is twenty-two, he manages to get onto a transport ship. He flies out to one of Vespasia’s colonized planets. From there, it’s easy. He bounces between planets and ships and jobs and crews. Everyone could use a good mechanic who knows his way around nearly all ships, engines, materials, and the like. Eventually, he sticks it out on an outer rim planet called Prime 1240. It’s as far from the Core as possible, and feels nearly no influence from them. The operating system isn’t even a thing this far out, essentially making it the most different place he could ever live.

He’s twenty-four when Taeil and Taeyong crash into his life.

Literally, unfortunately.

They pick up Jaehyun after that, and then get a ship, and then pick up Sicheng, and then find Donghyuck.

Mark, Jeno, Doyoung, and Johnny all come after that, and the ship is finally starting to feel a little less empty.

“Please,” Sicheng says from his spot at the work desk at the back of the engine room. “Can you just be quiet.”

“I wasn’t even doing anything,” Yuta huffs, half listening to the engine to see if he can hear the distinctive _clack_ of the gravity capacitor working right. He’s still on edge from their old one, shivers when he remembers having to reach into the engine with no gravity and get it back into motion and being dropped to the ground with his arm still half in the large metal workings of the engine.

“I can feel you looking at me and thinking too hard,” Sicheng sniffs, and Yuta rolls his eyes.

“Maybe you’re the only thing worth looking at down here,” he says back, but dutifully moves his eyes to the engine. Sicheng is trying to figure out the problem with one of their stabilizers, everyone having been a bit too jostled around by their last landing on some nameless planet in the T-Zone between mid and outer rim to feel comfortable not at least looking at it.

Sicheng just makes a grossed out noise in reply, and Yuta turns on the radio they have specifically for the engine room to try and fill some more space.

He’s still so used to Vespasia’s clamor and sound, even this many years away from it, and he’s always needed the engine room disturbingly loud to truly be in his comfort level.

Thankfully, the sound doesn’t transfer too bad up the stairs and Sicheng is graciously kind enough to allow it.

Jaehyun had been found by Taeil on some random planet that doesn’t even register to them anymore, he had been young and alone, part of the circuit of traveling entertainers. He was pitiful enough for Taeil to take him under his wing. After they had finally ditched their old crew and bought the 127, Taeyong took to teaching him how to fly.

“It never hurts to have another pilot,” Taeyong grinned at Taeil, back when Taeil was still trying to get Jaehyun to follow him in his weapon handler career path.

Sicheng was all Taeyong. Picked up from the ALLAO space station in deep space, he was older than Jaehyun had been when they found him, but somehow just as pitiful. At the time, his common had been abysmal, he spoke some language the four of them had no clue of even. It took several years and lots of searching to find him the tools he needed to get enough common to communicate as well as he can now. Taeyong adored him, but let him go down to the engine room and learn from Yuta.

As the pattern goes, Yuta finds Donghyuck on Verne, the most prominent Vespasian colony in the universe. He hadn’t been looking to find some kid, but yet, he found Donghyuck mid-scam and got him out of a sticky situation he couldn’t quite come back from. Donghyuck latched onto him after that, and Yuta hasn’t shaken him off since.

There’s more to that story, but that’s all anyone on the ship besides him and Donghyuck know, so.

Donghyuck does weapon handling with Taeil, takes some of the anxiety out of Yuta’s heart because at least now Donghyuck has a blaster or two to help him if he talks himself into a problem. No matter how much confidence Taeyong has in that kid, Yuta still worries.

Doyoung and Mark do their own thing, Doyoung speaks an outrageous amount of languages and Mark is just. Lethal. They don’t need to learn anything from anyone on the ship. Jeno and Johnny are similar, but they both end up taking up weapon handling anyway. Taeyong thinks it’s payback for him stealing Jaehyun out from under Taeil, but Taeil just rolled his eyes at that suggestion.

They settled in well, really, Doyoung and Taeyong aren’t even that outwardly affectionate. Jeno is the same age as Donghyuck, which Yuta appreciates. Hyuck had always been the youngest, and now he has someone his age to relate to. Mark and Jeno are helpful around the ship, and Yuta knows he has a soft spot for them already.

Johnny is more complex.

First of all, Yuta gets the impression that while Taeyong and Doyoung have no problems bridging the gap of time, Johnny does. Taeyong is happily oblivious to it, but Yuta and Taeil can see the tension in Johnny’s shoulders when Taeyong is around. They don’t have the full story, only as much as they could pry out of Mark which was already a romanticized version from Doyoung, but Yuta thinks it would take a very strong man to not feel something about being left behind.

Second, Johnny looks at Doyoung a little too much. Taeil doesn’t think this, always says, “he’s his bodyguard...” like Yuta is an idiot, but Yuta can read people. Donghyuck and him clicked because they both were quick to read what people were saying with their body language. Taeil is some rich boy from a peaceful mid rim planet, he wouldn’t know anything that Donghyuck and Yuta know.

Third, and most dangerously, the dynamics of the four who just joined don’t gell that well with the dynamics of the six on the ship already. Jeno and Mark clearly look up to Johnny and Doyoung more than anyone else, but there’s an awkward hesitance to follow what anyone else says. They always look to Johnny first before they do something. Mark is less likely to do it, his hero worship of Taeyong still influential enough to make him starry eyed. Jeno is nice. He’s a lot like Doyoung, unobtrusive and rule following. He will follow what gets told to him, of course, but he always, always, always first glances at Johnny.

This wouldn’t be a problem in most circumstances. Donghyuck will sometimes look first to Yuta, but Johnny has so much presence. He’s used to leading. It’s harder for him to bow to Taeyong’s leadership. He does, but Yuta suspects it’s because he’s trying to make Doyoung happy. Taeil can write off the lingering glances, Yuta can’t.

There is no issue now, but Yuta has not lived for twenty nine years by blindly ignoring what could become issues. Taeil doesn’t think this is a big deal, and it’s maybe not. Yuta has never learned how to leave well enough alone, though.

“I can’t figure out what’s with this stabilizer,” Sicheng finally grumbles, smacks one of his hands on the work desk and turns to Yuta. “Maybe Jaehyun just sucked really bad at landing.”

Yuta laughs, moves to examine the stabilizer also. When they first bought the 127 he had completely revamped the engine and is therefore achingly familiar with all of its pieces.

He tinkers with it for a bit, rotates it around and sticks his fingers into it. After a few minutes he sighs, drops the stabilizer back onto the desk. “I think it’s just getting old. I put this thing in years ago.” He points to some of the worn down parts. “These aren’t terrible, but it’s probably grinding and slowing things down.”

Sicheng listens quietly, looks and feels where Yuta directs him.

“I wouldn’t really expect you to know all of that,” Yuta says. “I only know because I put it in myself when it was brand new.”

Sicheng nods, pouts at the table. “Should I just put it back then?”

“Yeah,” Yuta sighs, knocks on the wood of the desk. “We haven’t crashed yet with it!”

“Don’t jinx us,” Sicheng snaps playfully, wanders back to the hydraulics of the landing gear and takes his time putting the stabilizer back in.

They arrive on the next planet in one piece, but similarly jostled. Taeyong sends Yuta out to find something to fix the problem. That’s fine.

They’re on Ionni, a planet under the influence of one of the Core planets, there should be no problem finding the piece he needs.

“Can I come with you?” Donghyuck asks when he’s opening the cargo door.

Yuta narrows his eyes at the younger, tries to see what he wants. He only smiles back at him, bright and innocent. “Fine,” Yuta relents. “Just don’t walk away from me.”

Donghyuck is old enough and smart enough to be fine alone, but Yuta never feels safe on Core planets, so he tosses an arm over Donghyuck’s shoulder the second they step off the ship. The cargo doors close behind them, and Yuta drags Donghyuck with him into the city.

“What’s up?” Yuta questions as they wander around looking for a parts shop. The streets are relatively busy, but it’s not packed enough for them to have to press through crowds.

“Nothing’s up,” Donghyuck says quickly, and he plasters on his most fake smile when Yuta gives him a look. “Why does something have to be up?”

“Was there something you wanted to talk to me about, then?” Yuta keeps digging.

He hesitates then, twists his fingers together briefly before speaking again, “I was just curious...” a pause, “about what you thought of Johnny.”

Yuta hadn’t expected him to have been picking things up. Probably, he had underestimated how much observation Donghyuck did, and also underestimated how much he picked up from the two other kids.

“He’s cool,” Yuta says. “I think he’s not like Doyoung.”

Donghyuck’s gaze snaps onto him, zeroes in on that statement.

“I agree,” Donghyuck mutters, hesitates again. “I’ve just heard some things from Jeno and Mark...”

Oh, that’s _very_ interesting.

“What kinda things?”

“Just that, you know, Doyoung was way more faithful to Taeyong than Johnny was and that they argued about it a lot.” Donghyuck murmurs, casts his eyes around carefully. “Jeno is certain that Johnny _likes_ Doyoung and that’s why he’s so stiff.”

“That’s what I was thinking also,” Yuta says, pauses the two of them walking because they’ve reached a store for ship parts. “You think we should do something?”

Donghyuck frowns. “I don’t think so. I mean, it’s not really our business. And Johnny’s not even doing anything besides moping.”

“True,” Yuta says, rubs his chin thoughtfully. “But we’ll keep an eye on it, in case things do happen, yeah?”

Donghyuck smiles and nods at him, gives him a thumbs up.

He’s halfway through a lengthy haggling session with the storeowner when he realizes Donghyuck has given him the slip. This was expected, of course, but he had hoped it wouldn’t happen. Donghyuck is too bold for his own good, he wants to explore and talk on his own with no care to what trouble he could get into. Taeyong has a tendency of letting him off his leash, but Yuta doesn’t like their odds when they’re on a planet with such heavy Core influence.

Especially with Donghyuck’s fake Core ID and papers, it’s a little too close to the fire for Yuta to be happy with.

The store owner gives him the stabilizer half off, and it doesn’t even break the bank that bad. Now, he just has to find Donghyuck again.

They both didn’t bring their comms, and even if they had Yuta probably wouldn’t use it. No need to let everyone know he lost Donghyuck, he can deal with this on his own.

After ten minutes of wandering around the streets and asking around for a teen with dark red hair and getting nothing, Yuta is replacing his slight annoyance with straight anger. It’s one thing for Donghyuck to run off, it’s another thing for him to do it so well that Yuta can’t find him.

He’s half wondering if he should just go back to the ship and get help when he hears a distant shout of, “ _\--snot-nosed kid!_ ” rise above the overall din of noise and what sounds like a scuffle from a few blocks over.

And, Yuta already knows where Donghyuck is now.

Jogging lightly (huffing and puffing from the weight of the stabilizer), Yuta rounds a corner and finds the actual market, the one with stalls and packs of people. The street down this way is clearly more run down than the rest, and Yuta wants to be mad that he definitely could have gotten a cheaper stabilizer here than that upperclass store. But, when he narrows his eyes, he can spot Core officers wading through the crowd and someone with hair suspiciously close to Donghyuck’s being throttled by a stall owner.

Ugh.

Shoving through the crowd is annoying, but Yuta lets his smile edge close enough to feral to spook people into clearing way for him to get through. The Core officers get there first, one of them has Donghyuck’s shirt collar in his fist and the other one is trying to calm the stall owner down.

It’s truly embarrassing how similar this is to the last time Yuta and Donghyuck were on a Core owned planet. He’s never going to let Donghyuck live this one down.

When Yuta gets there, the Core officer with Donghyuck is urging him for his ID. His ID is fine enough, but neither him nor Yuta trust it to pass scrutinizing from actual Core officers. Donghyuck is in the middle of blabbering excuses and deflecting when Yuta steps up to them.

“Sorry,” Yuta says, points at Donghyuck. “He’s with me. What do you need?”

The Core officer looks between them, then points at Donghyuck also. “Your son?”

Oh, that one stings a little. He’s not _that_ old, but Donghyuck is already nodding and smiling. There’s also a little shine in his eye that Yuta just knows means Donghyuck will not forget this.

“Sure,” Yuta finally says magnanimously. “I can just give you my ID, he’s an idiot and never remembers his or brings his card with him.”

“I can just scan--,” The officer begins, is already reaching for the scanner on his belt.

“No!” Yuta jumps forward, yanks Donghyuck towards him and slings an arm over his shoulder to smash him against his side. “We’re not from around here, we didn’t get implants on our planet.”

Which is false. Donghyuck did get an implant, but if it gets read it will only lead to trouble for them. Especially on a Core planet and with only the two of them around.

Yuta just goes ahead and spits his ID number out, all thirteen numbers, and the officer scrambles to enter them all on his scanner.

“You didn’t get implants on Vespasia?” The officer says, confusedly, after he finishes squinting at Yuta’s profile.

“I was born on Vespasia, I don’t live there. He wasn’t born there.” Yuta answers snidely. “Can we go?”

“No!” The stall owner shouts finally, points a finger at Donghyuck again. “He was trying to steal some of my communicators!”

Oh. Weird. Yuta squeezes Donghyuck tighter to himself. “I’ll pay for whatever he tried to take.”

The officers and stall owner relax, and the stall owner seems surprised. “Okay, it’s two hundred volts.”

Yuta can feel his eye twitch.

He uses his own personal money for it, because Taeil would probably de-ball him if he dipped more into ship funds after already paying for the stabilizer. Yuta snatches the four communicators from the stall owner and hauls Donghyuck back out by the scruff of his neck. He’s pouting now, arms crossed over his chest and resolutely looking at the ground.

They get a block away before Donghyuck can finally shake the grip Yuta has on him, and he sticks his tongue out at the older man.

“Please explain what just happened to me,” Yuta says flatly, is trying to examine one of the communicators to see what’s so special about them that Donghyuck tried to steal them.

“Well,” Donghyuck starts, and his tone is already that one he gets when he’s about to lie to him. “I got bored so I went exploring and I found that market. And then I saw that stall and I was just looking and I don’t know what happened! That old guy just started yelling at me and accusing me of stuff!”

Yuta pauses from his examination of the communicator to give Donghyuck the most unimpressed look he can possibly manage. “That’s what you’re going with?”

“It’s the truth,” Donghyuck sniffs.

“These aren’t even that good of communicators?” Yuta asks, can’t find anything remarkable about them. They aren’t anywhere near as good as the ones Sicheng made.

“I wasn’t stealing them! I already told you he started accusing me of stuff...” Donghyuck exclaims in protest.

“Donghyuck,” Yuta interrupts, hates how parental he sounds.

“I told you the truth already.” Donghyuck snaps, keeps his arms crossed over his chest and looks away from Yuta.

Sighing, Yuta stops Donghyuck with a hand on his shoulder, turns him so they’re facing each other.

“Listen to me,” he says seriously. “I don’t care what you’re doing, so long as you tell me and don’t get anyone hurt. I always have your back, don’t keep secrets from me.”

Donghyuck nods, but doesn’t look any closer to telling him more.

“Will you eventually tell me what’s up?” Yuta asks, because there is no doubt in his mind that whatever he ditched Yuta to do was what he really left the ship for.

Donghyuck’s face softens a little, and he nods. Yuta sighs again, but hands the communicators over to the younger boy.

 

 

►

 

 

Yuta is routinely the first person on the ship awake. He goes to bed early, and then wakes up first. Johnny has been giving him a run for his money, but Yuta beat him out this morning. Yuta’s room is close to the cargo door, close to the engine room. He’s already committed to the idea of cleaning the entire mechanical system today, had told Sicheng to set an alarm for tomorrow to help. Of course, the little shit hadn’t bothered to do that, and so Yuta is left to clean by himself. He has the music on, has already turned off the electrical system when he first got up to clean that part of the mechanics before anyone was up to complain about no electricity. He’s on the engine proper now, music buzzing loudly around him.

It’s relaxing, doing this, letting his mind drift as he cleans the gunk out of the engine. It’s kind of his baby, and the 127 has run this well for this long because he puts so much effort into keeping her well maintained.

They’re still on Ionni, and Yuta helpfully doesn’t plan on mentioning Donghyuck sneaking out last night to Taeyong, who would surely lecture him hard enough to make him pout for the next week. It’s a little suspicious, but Yuta is still willing to let it slide, has faith in Donghyuck even if he’s truly the best of them all at getting in trouble.

The sleeping shifts on the 127 are scrambled currently, because they still haven’t found a way to fit everyone in, so the ship is on a simple twenty-four hour system. Their twenty-four hour system isn’t matching well to Ionni’s own system, since for the ship it’s something like 7AM and for Ionni it’s the middle of the night, but Yuta’s fine with it. There are few windows on the ship for these reasons, and things are fine.

He shouldn’t be surprised that others are up when he stomps back up the stairs and pauses in the hallway, but he’s still jolted by the voices that float around the bend in the hall from the kitchen.

They’re arguing, he can tell that much by their voices, but they quiet down when he comes around the bend and steps into the kitchen.

Doyoung is leaning against the sink, and Yuta can see the pinch in his brows clear as day. Johnny is at the table, he at least has some toast in front of him, though he doesn’t seem to be eating it.

The air is a way too awkward for Yuta’s taste, and he’s already scrambling for something to say.

“Early day, huh?” He finally blurts out in question, the smile that lifts his lips is definitely his off-kilter smile, but, oh well. He focuses on getting his grease stained hands on as much of the kitchen counter and cabinet doors as he can, because he knows it will annoy Taeyong when he gets up.

Johnny mutters a, “ha, yeah,” but Doyoung doesn’t say anything. It’s so awkward, and Yuta really doesn’t know what to do as he pulls a bottle of their iced coffee from the fridge. Johnny still turns his nose up at those, but it was the easiest way to have coffee without the clutter of the things you needed for coffee.

Yuta twists the cap off and chugs about half of it in a nervous fit, and Doyoung and Johnny are both giving him concerned looks when he finally lowers it down to take a breath.

“Are you okay?” Doyoung asks, and he sounds genuinely worried. Yuta tries to stop his face from looking so crazy, and just nods. Doyoung doesn’t look convinced but doesn’t say more, lets his eyes wander back towards the door. His side profile is really pretty, Yuta thinks absently, and he knows if Taeyong hadn’t laid claim like, twenty years ago, Yuta would want him. After they were out of Inannian Empire influence, Doyoung immediately bleached and dyed his hair purple. It offset the light blue of his skin surprisingly nice, and Yuta can see how Taeyong could be so obsessed with one person for so long.

When Yuta finally drags his gaze away and onto Johnny instead, he’s getting a pretty searching look from the other man. His narrowed eyes tell Yuta he knows he was checking Doyoung out, but Yuta just tilts his head at the other man. No one’s not allowed to look, after all, and Johnny is hardly one to judge Yuta.

Johnny didn’t dye his hair after they left Inanna. Unlike the other three, Doyoung purple, Jeno blond, Mark a lighter brown, Johnny had kept his hair black. He had cut it shorter though, and Yuta thinks it makes him look nice, also. Maybe Inanna just produces exceptionally pretty people.

“Wanna learn about the engine?” Yuta says loudly, way too loudly, and he just plasters on another smile to cover it, keeps looking at Johnny to make it clear he was talking to him.

Also, he’s giving him an out of this argument. Because maybe Yuta feels bad for Johnny. Or, because he wants to get a better feel for Johnny. He’ll go with that one, not focus on their parallels.

“Um,” Johnny says, seems confused. “Sure?”

“Great!” Yuta says, voice at a much more appropriate volume now. “It’s a great skill to have. Also, Taeil has too many students now. He’ll snap if he has to keep trying to get you all to learn weapons.”

Johnny’s lips tilt into a smile, and Doyoung snorts from next to Yuta.

There is another awkward pause, and Doyoung finally pushes off the counter.

“I’ll see you two later, then,” He says, waves at them both as he exits the kitchen. “Have fun!”

Yuta waits just long enough to hear the door to Taeyong’s room slide close behind Doyoung, then he drops into a seat next to Johnny and takes one of the pieces of toast. “What were you arguing about?”

“We weren’t arguing,” Johnny says immediately, yanks the plate away and pokes forlornly at the lukewarm toast.

“Mmmhm,” Yuta hums around the bread he’s trying to inhale.

“It’s not any of your business,” Johnny says, finally starts eating the toast.

“I wanted Taeyong so bad when I first met him,” Yuta says, uses the coffee to wash down the toast. “But I got over it, and now we are great friends.”

Johnny eyes the grease marks on the counter, then raises his eyebrows at Yuta.

“He thinks I’m endearing,” Yuta says sagely, takes the plate still on the table and dumps it into the washer, then flicks his fingers at Johnny. “Change into clothes you don’t care about, then come down to the engine.”

After he gets an “Okay,” out of Johnny, Yuta stops by his room to pick up the three books he thought were most helpful for learning the engine, then he was back in the engine room.

It takes a few minutes, but Johnny finally makes his way downstairs. He’s dressed in some basic pairing of black clothes, and Yuta can approve of that choice.

Yuta smiles (much more naturally) at Johnny and waves him over, shoves the books closer to him when he steps over.

“I gave these to Sicheng when he first joined and they seemed to help him,” Yuta says, taps a finger on the cover of the top one and tilts his head.

Johnny opens the top one and flips through it plaintively, hesitates like he doesn’t know what to do.

“You should just read these for now,” Yuta says, digs a notepad out from in the work desk and puts a pen next to it. “Take notes.”

“Oh, fun,” Johnny says with a roll of his eyes, and Yuta only sticks his tongue out at the other man, goes back to crawling all over the engine as he cleans it.

At 10AM, Sicheng finally stumbles down the stairs to join them. He gives Johnny a curious glance, deftly dodges the fist Yuta swings at him, and immediately climbs straight up to the top of the engine to get his hands dirty.

“I told you to set an alarm,” Yuta whines, flopping backwards onto the floor to stare at the ceiling.

“You like it better when you clean by yourself,” Sicheng says from where he is, peers down at Yuta on the floor. “I didn’t know we would have a guest.”

“I decided to take on another student,” Yuta says, sits up and scoots to the engine again. “I think Taeil is getting too overworked.”

“He’s fine,” Sicheng says with a roll of his eyes. “And Johnny was his best student.”

“I was,” Johnny finally joins the conversation with, “the other two don’t listen to him well enough.”

The look Sicheng casts Yuta tells him that he doesn’t buy his excuse for picking up Johnny, but he’s too gracious to call him out with an audience, so it’s all good.

Out of the two of them, Sicheng is much better at keeping himself clean. Yuta has grease all over himself, and when Sicheng finally works his way towards the middle of the engine, Yuta clings onto him to try and transfer some of it. Sicheng wails and tries to shake Yuta off, but he’s too strong to be shaken off that easy.

Johnny just laughs at them, and Yuta can’t help but grin back. He’s never really been around the other man, and it’s sort of nice to see him let loose.

Another few hours and Taeyong bangs down the stairs also, shouts, “Hey!”

When Yuta turns, he’s greeted by getting smacked in the face with a dirty cloth.

“Stop leaving your grease stains everywhere!” Taeyong continues. “Also, when can we leave.”

Yuta had been standing next to the work desk, answering questions Johnny had had about the book he was on. Now, he’s pouting at Taeyong, wipes his hands a little on the cloth now in his grasp, and then slinks over to Taeyong to wrap an arm around his waist.

“Yong-ah...” he starts, gets his cheek pinched for his efforts. Taeyong shakes him off and inspects his outfit to make sure no grease had gotten on it. “Probably like, tonight or tomorrow morning or something.”

“Okay, cool,” Taeyong says, looks like he’s already a thousand miles away.

Yuta tries again, but only wraps his arm around Taeyong’s. “Do we have any jobs?”

Taeyong shakes his head, drags him over to where Sicheng is sitting on the cot they have shoved into one of the empty corners of the engine room for the (multiple) late nights Yuta pulls.

“No jobs,” Taeyong says, drags fingers through Sicheng’s hair fondly and smiles at the younger. “I sent Donghyuck out a little while ago to find one for us.”

Yuta purses his lips. “By himself?”

Pausing in stroking Sicheng’s head, Taeyong turns appraising eyes back on him. “Should I not have?”

He’s asking because he always defers to Yuta on Donghyuck, he knows they didn’t tell him the full truth about how he picked up Donghyuck, knows Yuta didn’t spend three days convincing Donghyuck to join. If Yuta shows some doubt about Donghyuck, then Taeyong will almost always bow to what he thinks.

“I’m...” Yuta thinks for a second, decides on a whim. “It’s fine. He’s smart.”

Taeyong smiles, nods. Pats Sicheng’s head once more and then separates himself from Yuta. “I’m making dinner later. I know you and Johnny haven’t had lunch. Maybe get a snack between then and now, hm?”

Yuta rolls his eyes. “Sure, _mom_.”

Taeyong just gives him a finger gun and then jogs back up the stairs.

 

 

►

 

 

The quiet beeping of his door code being put in wakes Yuta, he blinks blearily at the figure that slips into his room when the door slides open. It can really only be either Taeyong or Donghyuck, and he recognizes it as Donghyuck when he gets close to the bed.

Yuta groans a little, but opens the covers for Donghyuck to curl in next to him.

“What’s wrong?” Yuta mumbles, tries to shake the sleep out of his brain. Donghyuck is really squishing up next to him, has his head right under Yuta’s chin and one of his arms wrapped tight across him.

“I need your help,” Donghyuck whispers, tries to get closer.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Yuta relaxes and lifts the arm Donghyuck is on to curl it around him. “Tell me.”

“I got a message from Jisung,” Donghyuck begins, and already Yuta’s stomach is sinking. “It’s not so good there right now for them. I want to get them on the ship with us.”

“How?” Yuta asks, already trying to figure out the logistics himself.

“I got us a job in Verne already,” Donghyuck starts. “I just need your help with finding them and getting them out.”

“We have to ditch the rest of the crew?” Yuta drawls, already knows the answer.

“Duh,” Donghyuck snorts. “Just get them focused on the job and we’ll sneak off and come back with three more people.”

“I guess I made it work with you,” Yuta sighs, closes his eyes. “No reason I can’t get it to work again.”


End file.
